WOMAD Singapore, 25 August 2007

I have always been an avid fan of music festivals. When I moved here in 2000, one of the annual events I always look forward to is WOMAD (http://www.womadsingapore.com/). Come August every year, it never fails to make me look forward to a Saturday of non stop dancing to the beat of different kinds of music from all over the world.

This year is the 10th year anniversary of WOMAD and was supposed to have been the best. But sad to say, this year was the saddest for me. The music that Saturday night was still the best (well after conversing with my two colleagues who watched the Friday and Sunday night gigs). At the main stage, the gig was started by the band from Japan, OKI Dub Ainu Band. Its lead player 'Oki Kano is a master of the tonkori, a traditional five-stringed instrument of the Ainu people from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.' They played a fusion of reggae, electronica and African rhtyhms blended with their traditional Ainu music which was quite spectacular. First time for me to hear and see a Japanese band play reggae type of music. And they managed to enthrall the audience that night as their fusion music (reggae rhythm and Ainu sounds) mixed well.

Even the highlight of the night, Youssou N'Dour and the Super Eoile de Dakar from Senegal only managed to make me dance to some of their music, especially when they sang '7 seconds'. 'Its not a second, but 7 seconds of waiting, for just as long as i stay, i'll be waiting.' Really brought the house down!

But I also felt a bit sentimental while listening to them and then wishing that the one person in this world I have been waiting was there with me that night. While I was singing I remember I was smiling and saying to myself, yeah it is not 7 seconds for me, hoping it is only 7 more days and then could not translate that into seconds. I would need to ask my babe to compute for me. LOL!

Then a thought came to my mind that most likely this is my last WOMAD in Singapore. So I tried to savor the images in my mind and then knows that wherever I find myself in the future, music will always be part of my life.....'it's not a second, but 7 seconds of waiting, for just as long as i stay, i'll be waiting.'

To wade in water is how you discover Cebu

Cebu is one of the bigger islands that make up the Visayas region, central of the three main Philippine island groups. The other two are Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south.

As an island it is only 22 miles tho it is 8x bigger than Singapore and 5x the size of Hong Kong. Known before as 'Sugbu', which means to wade in water, this island province has metamorphosed as the queen city of the south. There were some historical accounts that attest that Cebu has been a major trading port between the Indonesians and Malaysian tribal chiefs and the Chinese, 300 years before the Spaniards set foot and conquered it.

The island province does not have very good soil for agriculture so corn is the main staple (as it requires less water) and it receives very little rainfall throughout the year. This is one of the reasons why Cebu has grown to become one of the best places to go and have a holiday because of this relatively good weather all year round.

Cebu boasts of so many nice islands and beaches surrounding the big island. Some of these islands are Mactan (which is divided into Lapu Lapu City and Cordova), Moalboal, Camotes (or Potato), Bantayan and Malapascua. These islands boast of white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. Be sure to drive down towards one or all of these islands when you visit Cebu or go on a boat ride for an island hopping experience.

Cebu is well known for two stuff: mangoes (the best ones come from the town of Guadalupe) and guitars. 'Bisaya' is the language spoken by most Cebuanos, and they prefer to speak in English rather than Tagalog. So tourists who go to Cebu will have no difficulty conversing with the Cebuanos, even in their halting English.

Cebu is also well known for its churches and four centuries of Spanish occupation left so much influence behind in terms of architecture of churches, houses and buildings to the way of life of Cebuanos.

Above are some of the pictures I took while Mom and I were there last week (8-11 August 2007). Enjoy!

Anecdote of a miracle from Cebu City

Miracle sunset

One of the things I always look forward to when I visit a place is to see sunset. All these years of traveling I have found out that the most wonderful sunsets are in the beach. I guess it makes it more interesting as you have such an unrestricted view of the sun as it sets. Alas, I did not realize we will be staying at a resort that is on the other side of where the sun will be setting in Cebu. We were on the eastern side so the view of the sunset in the beach was not spectacular. When I realized this, I made sure I was not out on the last day I could see the sunset. Mom and I just had a lazy day inside the resort and I just waited for the sunset. And of course when you are in a not so happy mood (well someone v special to me just got p off with me so i was feeling so down that afternoon), I almost missed the sunset.

By the time I climbed on the second floor of the resort to get a good view of the sunset, there was this huge dark cloud covering the sun.



I felt so dejected and more sad as I felt the whole universe must be conspiring to make my day worse. By the minute I was feeling close to tears. At one point I went down to our room and lamented to Mom that I missed the sunset. Being Mom as she is, she gave me hope that maybe the sunset is not yet finished, that the sun will still come out of hiding from the clouds so I can see it and capture it. I told her it may not happen anymore. I guess she must have sounded so encouraging that I got up from the bed and went back up again. But alas, the sun was still hiding in the clouds. Then I had this wonderful thought. I uttered a silent plea for a miracle to happen that afternoon. I told God please if He showed me a miracle then it must mean that the one person I love most in this world will come back and will forgive me. The miralce is if the sun will come out from the clouds so I can see it go down in the horizon. I waited..still nothing happened...five minutes must have gone by...

then suddenly just when i was about to give up and i was sitting slumped already on the floor, camera in hand, i looked up to see the sun slowly coming out of hiding from the dark clouds...wow! i suddenly jumped up and was so happy and started clicking my digicam....



tho it was not the most spectacular sunset i have seen but at that point and time, i thot it was the most beautiful sunset i have witnessed in my life...a miracle indeed...as it was almost 6 pm....should have finished by then...and the sun as if to really make me humble and happier, seems to dance before my eyes, moving from one position to another as it goes down....teasing me as it keeps going down and then moving up again...and i watched it till it was almost touching the mountain..i was the only one that day who must have felt this miracle!

Well I hope the other miracle will happen soon... like the sunset that friday afternoon...

Holiday with Mom, part 3 in Cebu City, Philippines

Mom inside the Taoist temple



Cheers! Mom and I having an afternoon drink at the lobby lounge of Shangrila Mactan, pricey but worth it!




Mom and I inside Magellan's cross.